It''s amazing how many game design sites that dance around my question without answering it. I''m just a guy with ideas but I think I now have a great one. I very much want to program it but am unsure which is the best program to use. My idea is a game for the PC and considering how long ago my training was consider me a total programming neophyte. What do you suggest I use?

A pathetic newbie that cannot even type! Argghh!

Any suggestions on programming would definitely be appreciated.

If you''re a neophyte and you''re planning on working on a 2d game of some variety, I would suggest Visual Basic and DirectX7 DirectDraw. Much simpler for its robustness than most alternatives.

Then, there''s always click''n''play... not that i''ve ever used it.

Wow, you didn''t even tell us what you actually wanted to do... You just said you wanted to make a pc game...


Lord Hen

For Beginners

-Luctus
Statisticly seen, most things happens to other people.
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I use C++, Win32, DirectX, and OpenGL. You can get most stuff for under 50 bucks if you search hard. I sue GIMP for graphics, Milkshape 3D for 3D graphics, Bloodshed Dev for an IDE, Notepad for a text editor, I sometimes use DOS EDIT.COM, and minw.

Scott Simontis
Big Joke: C#

About DirectX and Direct Draw... do i have to download those programs?.. cuase i see tutorials.. they go from writing code to showing 3D top of the line FPS games.. i really dont understand it..

DirectDraw is part of DirectX. DirectX contains everything you could want for game programming...Direct3D, DirectDraw (used for 2d but Direct3D can also be used), DirectInput, DirectPlay (networking stuff), DirectShow (movie files?), DirectSound...you get the picture.

To use it you must download the sdk (software development kit) which you can get from http://www.msdn.com for free. Once you have it installed, follow the tutorial on setting up your compiler to use it (pointing the linker to the correct libraries, etc.). If the tutorial doesn't cover that then I suggest you find a different tutorial .

[edited by - Raloth on August 6, 2003 12:48:41 AM]

Before you so much as touch DirectX, make sure you know the language you''re working with. I recommend C++... I use .NET, but some people would disagree with my choice; such is the world of programmers.

I recommend obtaining a simple compiler and learning C++ in depth. It''s boring stuff, but you''ll be well on your way to Step Two once you''ve finished.